Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)

An athlete, like any other person, may have illnesses or conditions that require use of particular medications as treatment, but substances he/she might take as treatment can fall under Prohibited list. In such case therapeutic use exemption (TUE) under strict conditions may provide an athlete authorization to take needed medicine while competing in sport with no resulting doping offence.

Any athlete including those with disabilities with a documented, legitimate medical condition may apply for TUE.

An exemption will be granted only in strict accordance with Code criteria. Under the World anti-doping Code WADA has issued an International Standard for granting TUE.

The route of TUE process can be in both ways depending on the international or national level of athlete. The athlete must establish whether he or she is classified and send the application form to NADO or IF (International federation). TUE request can be submitted to one body at the time. The list of athletes included in Testing pool shall be shared between various ADOs and should be regularly updated. IF should communicate with NADOs regarding testing pool. Cooperation between those institutions is needed to prevent duplication, but in practice that process of mutual recognition could be very difficult.

All International federations and National anti-doping organizations must have process in place whereby athletes with documented medical conditions can request a TUE. TUE committee may ask for additional investigations and diagnostic procedures and should include at least three physicians with a experience in the care and treatment of athletes. At least one expert should have a knowledge in the specific medical area of the request. It is very important that all the applications for TUE, submitted and send via fax or email on time could be evaluated properly. Based upon International standard for granting TUE, according to the new Code there is deadline and it is 30 day before competition. There are some situations when retroactive approval can be accepted like for example:

– Emergency treatment
– Exceptional circumstances
– There was not enough time for an applicant to submit.